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Peace with Problems: 1945-1960 Chapter 15 Section 2 A Global Cold War The Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union expanded to all parts of the world including Asia, Africa, and Latin America. China U.S. policymakers hoped that China would eventually become a strong and prosperous democracy after Japan was defeated in World War II. China was in danger of becoming a Communist nation. Mao Zedong led the communist revolution in China. (1945-1949) Mao Zedong’s Rise To Power China, the most populous nation in the world, had a huge population of peasants who toiled in poverty. A discontented young peasant named Mao Zedong decided in the 1920s that the time had come for the Chinese working class (industrial workers and peasants) to take control of their government and adopt a Communist system. Mao Zedong General Jiang Jieshi (old spelling Chiang Kai-shek) battled for control of China against Mao Zedong’s Communist forces. General Jiang Jieshi with his Nationalist supporters fled to the island of Taiwan in 1949 after suffering defeats on the battlefield. General Jiang Jieshi Above: General Jiang Jieshi with Roosevelt and Churchill The A-Bomb The Soviet Union tested the ABomb in 1949. Now that Russia announcing it had nuclear weapons was an important event for not only the United States but for the world because now the world now had to live in fear that someday such weapons might be used in a war capable of destroying all life on the planet. The Manhattan Project cost the United States government 2 trillion dollars. It was the most expensive building project in the history of mankind. Do you know what the atomic bombs names were that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Little Boy (Nuclear fission of uranium 235). Fat Man (Filled with Plutonium) Enola Gay In 1952 the United States announced that it had developed a weapon thousands of times more destructive than the atomic bomb, or A-bomb. Its new weapon was the Hydrogen bomb or H-bomb. Russian Hydrogen bomb Crater blast left by a hydrogen bomb Atom Bomb Description What are Americans going to do out of fear of nuclear attack back home? Show students websites depicting atomic and hydrogen bomb detonations. Korean War The United States became involved with the Korean War five years after World War II. The main event that caused the United States to become involved in the Korean War was U.S. opposition to communism which resulted from the sudden attack by a North Korean army (Communist) against the territory of South Korea. Truman used his power as commander in chief to conduct an undeclared war in Korea, which he called a police action. Truman managed to declare war on North Korea without Congress’s approval. China got involved in the Korean War by siding with the Communist North Korea. Chinese troops taken as prisoners during the Korean War. MacArthur urged President Truman to permit him to drop atomic bombs on Chinese bases in Manchuria, a part of China, in order to stop the Chinese attack. Truman refused to give his permission, wishing to pursue a “limited war” in Korea. He feared that bombing China would probably result in a far larger and more dangerous war. MacArthur campaigned anyways to bomb China and at this point in 1951, President Truman removed MacArthur as the commander of UN forces in Korea. Truman concluded that he could not allow MacArthur to challenge the president’s authority as commander in chief. The decision to remove MacArthur was not an easy one because it took courage to remove a general that was popular with the American people and a World War II war hero. General MacArthur “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.” Harry Truman Harry Truman was also the first president to use economic aid to fight the cold war. Truman’s Point Four Program Foreign aid sent to developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America for helping to combat hunger and starvation. Cold War at home In this time of Communist expansion, many Americans wondered whether their own country might be a target of Communist plots. They feared that Communists spies and Communist sympathizers might be anywhere, working as secret agents of the Soviet government. Loyalty Checks To determine whether an federal employee was likely to be loyal or disloyal, Truman ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Civil Service Commission to find out about the employee’s past associations. Some 3 million government workers were investigated because of the loyalty tests. Smith Act The law prohibited any group from advocating or teaching the violent overthrow of the U.S. government and also prohibited any person from belonging to such a group. In effect, since U.S. Communists advocated the overthrow of capitalist governments (although not necessarily by violence), the Smith Act made it illegal for U.S. citizens to join the Communist Party. Do you think that the Smith Act violates the first amendment under the Constitution? According to the Supreme Court Case of Dennis et al. vs. United States (1951) the first amendment rights had not been violated because it presented a clear and present danger of the public when the speech is about overthrowing the government by force and violence. Yates vs. United States (1971) For the law to be violated, said the Court, a speaker must encourage people to do something, not merely believe in something. Any idea could be advocated so long as the speaker did not urge people to commit dangerous acts. McCarran Act An anti-communist law aimed at “Communist-front” organizations. Such groups did not identify themselves as Communists but were accused of either receiving support from the Communists or including Communist members. The law required all Communist and Communist-front organizations to file membership lists and financial statements with the U.S. attorney general. It also prohibited the employment in national defense plants of Communists or members of Communist-front organizations and the entry into the United States of Communists or former Communists. House Un-American Activities Committee Called before the House committee, a labor organizer named John Watkins answered questions about his own dealings with Communist groups. But he refused to answer questions about the activities of other persons he knew. He believed that such questions were not relevant to the committee’s Watkins was convicted of violating a federal law that made it a crime to refuse to answer a congressional committee’s questions. The Supreme Court decided that Watkins’s conviction was not valid. The Court ruled that a witness at a congressional hearing may properly refuse to answer any committee question that does not relate to the committee’s lawmaking task. Alger Hiss Hiss, a former State Department official accused of spying for the Soviet Union, was convicted of perjury and sentenced to five years in prison. Alger Hiss The Rosenberg Trial It was a much publicized case of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, who were convicted of spying and passing nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union. They were executed in 1953, at the height of anti-Communist hysteria that gripped the nation. J. Robert Oppenheimer Oppenheimer, who had successfully directed U.S. efforts to build the first atomic bomb, took a stand against the development of the more powerful hydrogen bomb. Accused of being a Communist, he was forced to leave his post and endured public humiliation. McCarthyism Term used to describe the activities of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy, who gained national prominence by making unsubstantiated accusations of disloyalty and espionage against numerous government officials. Eisenhower The next president following Truman would be Eisenhower. Eisenhower promised that if he was elected he would end the Korean War. The Korean War ended the peace treaty split Korea up along the 38th parallel in 1953.